Reince Priebus (Getty)

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is demanding President Obama return $500,000 in campaign contributions Jon Corzine raised on his behalf now that the FBI is reportedly investigating the collapse of Mr. Corzine’s hedge fund brokerage, MF Global.
Mr. Priebus released a statement about President Obama’s financial relationship with Mr. Corzine, a former New Jersey Governor and Senator, Thursday morning.

“As Obama’s ‘great friend’ and designated ‘Wall Street guy,’ Corzine did much more than give the maximum $5,000 to the Obama campaign: he bundled at least 100 times that much from his Wall Street friends and fellow executives. While the Obama campaign has entertained the idea of returning the $5,000 Corzine gave himself should he be indicted, that’s simply not enough. The entire amount he bundled should be returned immediately,” Mr. Priebus said.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy Monday due to heavy losses related to the European debt crisis. Since then, government regulators identified $600 million missing from customer accounts and MF Global has admitted to transferring client cash into the company’s coffers in a likely attempt to cover losses. Moving segregated customer funds into company accounts in a potential violation of financial regulations. If MF Global did indeed move customer money into corporate accounts and Mr. Corzine was aware of the practice he could conceivably end up in jail.

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